Easy Does It

Laura Brown celebrates her lady friends who put the best in dressed.

PERSONAL STYLE. Yes, I wrote it in caps. Why? Because great personal style is elusive—it's the White Whale of Wardrobing. Those who have it, and make it look effortless, well, they deserve ALL-CAPS CONGRATULATIONS. It's ease that I admire most of all, probably because I'm never happier than when I'm in jeans and a loose denim shirt. With that in mind, I thought I'd talk to some of my friends who dress fancy for work but still very much dress for life.

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Christy Turlington has great style—which she needs, because she's not very pretty. (Emoticon!) Christy has a feeling to the way she dresses. It's not the It thing, but it's the right thing. "Remember when I said my personal style was evolving?" she says. "It's still in the hopper. But ease is what I go for. I appreciate beautiful clothes, but they just aren't very practical. I didn't always play it so safe, but I've learned that less is really so much more." Christy wears fluid jumpsuits, great coats, or a chunky sweater that just happens to be Céline. What she can't stop buying, though, is "fitness apparel. I always buy Oiselle's Lesley pants—I think I have about five pairs." And T-shirts, of course ("I like super soft—the last I bought were Alexander Wang").

Speaking of T-shirts, those humble garments—the bateau version—brought Michelle Dockery and me together. Michelle has never met a striped tee she didn't love. "I own too many!" she says. "They can be dressed up or down, and they're très français, my friend." Her style is "simple and classic, but lately I like prints and color." This means fewer black dresses, more Prada lady-face shifts. The last thing Michelle bought, however: "Um, a striped T-shirt."

Another casual-cool lady, Rose Byrne, is of a similar stripe. "I'm either very masculine, or very feminine in a floral frock," she says. "I arrived at my style via the horrendous teenage years and some solid fashion education hipster-watching in East London." Favorite jeans: "Levi's high-rise in pale blue." T-shirt: "Rag & Bone classic white." And frock: "A white summer thing by a lovely label I discovered in Paris, FrenchTrotters."

Fashion consultant Yasmin Sewell knows her way around Paris—as do the photographers who shoot her incessantly at the shows. "Oversize and boyish," Yasmin says of her look. "Slightly fashion-obsessed for special occasions." The key thing she learned was "about my body shape, finding flattering things as well as what I'm comfortable in. Then you realize they go hand in hand." She can't stop buying "black slinky dresses, double-breasted blazers, sharp shirts in color or print, and man-style jeans." Tees? "Être Cécile," she says, laughing. "And not just because I own it." Finally, one of the most stylish ladies I know isn't even a lady yet.

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Kiernan Shipka is only 14, but she dresses like she learned all the above lessons in utero. "Well, thank you for the compliment!" Kiernan says (she also has manners that make Lady Mary look ill-bred). "It comes down to loving fashion. I'm conscious of dressing for my age and having fun with what I wear." At the moment the kid can't get enough of Acne and Rag & Bone. Oh, and she thinks "Alexa Chung is pretty cool too." So GIVE IT UP for these four ladies—and one little lady—who all dress for success. Girls, if you want to style yours truly, you know where I live.

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